Monday, January 23, 2017

Fiasco of the Galaxy Note 7: Samsung tries to turn the page – The Obs

Seoul (AFP) – Samsung sought Monday to turn the page to the fiasco of the Galaxy Note 7 by applying formally to a lack of battery problems that occurred on this flagship camera whose production had been stopped in October.

It was one of the worst disappointments of the world’s leading manufacturer of smartphones, accustomed until then to be considered as the nec plus ultra of the technology.

The emergency to the juggernaut of south korea is to overcome once and for all this disastrous affair, in order not to lose too many feathers in the face of great rival Apple, explain the specialists of the brand.

as much as Samsung needs to manage another crisis, that of his involvement in the sensational corruption scandal that precipitated the impeachment of president Park Geun-Hye.

internal investigations and independent “have concluded that the batteries are the cause of the incidents of Note 7,” announced Samsung in a press release without surprise.

The first south Korean conglomerate had been forced in September to order the recall worldwide of $ 2.5 million of Note 7, several specimens having caught fire or exploded. Samsung had referred to a problem of the battery that was presumably manufactured by the sister company Samsung SDI.

- Mea culpa -

Samsung was then abandoned completely in October of that production device, which would compete with the iPhone 7, when it appeared that some of Note 7, which are distributed in replacement of the first were also taking fire. The battery of these new devices was likely manufactured by the chinese to ATL.

This debacle commercial cost Samsung billions of euros, between the shortfall and the impact -more difficult to estimate – on its image.

Since then, Samsung has stepped up the mea culpa, paying out a full-page apology in the biggest newspapers on the planet.

“We present our sincere apology for the inconvenience and concern caused to our customers”, has declared on Monday to journalists in Seoul, Koh Dong-Jin, head of the mobile division of Samsung Electronics.

The group said to have mobilized 700 researchers and engineers on its investigation. They have tested more than 200,000 devices and over 30,000 batteries.

“We can take responsibility for the fact that we have not been able to identify and verify the problems that arose in the design and manufacture of batteries,” can we read in the press release.

“We have taken corrective measures to ensure this never happens again.”

Samsung has not formally identified its battery manufacturers on Monday. But the independent investigators UL, and Exponent have validated its conclusions.

- The design, rather than the security -

The first battery was a design problem involving a short circuit, causing overheating and a blaze, and the second of the problems of welds with the same consequences.

Mr. Koh, however, ruled out any action against the manufacturers: “The fact of not checking the safety and quality is our responsibility.”

Tom Kang, analyst at Counterpoint Technology, the giant south Korean seeks clearly to move on to something else.

“consumers tend to forgive the first time,” he said. “But if such a problem occurred, it would have a lasting impact on the image of the brand.”

In this story, Samsung has probably sin by his willingness to put the package on the design, the finesse of the device and the capacity of the battery rather than on the security.

Its next model, the Galaxy S8, was to be unveiled in February at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. But, in order to allow for more tests, its launch has been postponed, according to Mr Koh.

Samsung has to announce on Tuesday its results for the fourth quarter after posting a 30% decline in its operating profit in the third quarter.

on Monday, the title of Samsung has finished the session on a rise of 1.9% to 1.90 million won.

Samsung passes through one of the worst sequences of his story. The heir to the group, Lee Jae-Yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, has been heard for 22 hours by the investigators that the suspect of corruption and abuse of social goods in the scandal involving the president of south korea.